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Ms Roseanna Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) how much is spent annually by his Department on research programmes in Scotland; and what proportion of this funding will be transferred to the Scottish Parliament after devolution; [63299]
(3) what assessment he has made of the programmes which it will be ultra vires for his Department to fund or have sole responsibility for after devolution; if he will list these programmes; and if he will make a statement. [63301]
Mr. Mudie:
Under the terms of the Scotland Act 1998, the Scottish Ministers will assume responsibility for a range of devolved functions which will in part depend on secondary legislation which has yet to be passed. My Department is reviewing its programmes, including the research components, in the light of the Scotland Act. It
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is too early to say to what extent programme expenditure which is currently administered by the Department may relate to functions which will transfer to Scottish Ministers. Work is taking place to establish the extent of any such expenditure and to assess the need for any consequential transfer of funds to the Scottish Ministers. For the total spending by the Department in Scotland I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury to the hon. Member for North Tayside (Mr. Swinney) on 4 November 1998, Official Report, column 615.
Mr. Peter Ainsworth:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimate he has made of the cost (a) in total and (b) to public funds of establishing a new broadcast education channel. [63322]
Mr. Charles Clarke:
The Department has no plans to establish a new broadcast education channel and no estimate of possible costs has accordingly been made.
Mrs. May:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how much money has been allocated in each of the next three financial years for (a) the Standards Fund, (b) the New Opportunities Fund, (c) the Service Development Fund and (d) the Small School Support Fund. [63250]
Mr. Blunkett:
The Standards Fund programme will be over £900 million in 1999-2000. This includes the DfEE grant and the local education authority contribution. Announcements of the size of the programme in future years will be made in due course.
The Service Development Fund will be £750 million in 2000-01 and £1,000 million in 2001-02.
Details for the Small School Support Fund will be announced in due course. Questions on the New Opportunities Fund are for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.
Mrs. May:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment when he expects to publish details of the proposed resources which are to be made available within the school improvement grant element of the Standards Fund for the replacement of headteachers in underperforming schools. [63248]
Ms Estelle Morris:
The Green Paper "Teachers--Meeting the Challenge of Change" (Cm 4164) indicates that additional resources will be made available within the Standards Fund to help underperforming schools to get the strong leadership they need. Details of this allocation will be announced in due course.
Mrs. May:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on the Virtual Staff College for Senior Education Officers. [63251]
Ms Estelle Morris:
The Virtual Staff College is a project, led by the Society of Education Officers with support from my Department, for the training and
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development of local education authority officers. The project includes a competence framework which forms the basis for several newly developed Master's degree courses. Students can mix and match modules from difference universities and combine on-site tuition with distance learning. The project leader is on secondment from the Department. The DfEE is also providing £30,000 for the development of the competence framework, training materials and information.
Mrs. May:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimate he has made of the recurrent cost of providing funding to guarantee all new teachers the reduced teaching load and programme of support referred to in the Green Paper, "Teachers Meeting the Challenge of Change". [63249]
Mr. Charles Clarke:
In 1999-2000 my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State will make available £251.5 million in the School Improvement Standards Fund grant to support activity designed to improve standards of pupil performance in order to meet school, LEA and national targets.
Mrs. May:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many advanced skills teachers have been appointed to date to each salary band. [63246]
Mr. Charles Clarke:
The information is not available.
Mr. Webb:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list the standard spending assessments for education per pupil for each English local authority for 1999-2000. [63255]
Ms Estelle Morris:
The following table shows, for each local education authority,
(a) its Primary education SSA per primary pupil;
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